11 April 2025 | Story: Qhawekazi Memani | Photo: Sifiso Nomzaza.
3 minutes read time.
When you meet Ms Fikile Zulu, you’ll first notice her calm, thoughtful presence – the kind that doesn’t need to shout to be heard. But behind that stillness is a lifetime of quiet resilience shaped by fire, art and a will that never bowed to circumstance.
Fikile was just five months old when a candle changed her life. It was the 6th of October 1990, an ordinary evening that became etched in her story. The burns were severe. She was hospitalised for six months and discharged only after her first birthday. Her mother remembers the shock of the doctors when little Fikile began crawling at just eight months old, with her tiny hand still heavily bandaged. She never cried through the nights, her mother recalls. She just slept peacefully, moved during the day and played. That calm courage, even in pain, would become her signature.
“I never really had a label for it,” Ms Zulu says. “Growing up, people called it isandla esishile – my burnt hand. It’s always been part of me. I live like anyone else.”
And live she did – fully and creatively. Now, she’s graduating with an advanced diploma in graphic design from the Vaal University of Technology (VUT). Her disability never defined her academic path; her love for learning lit the way. “I’ve always been drawn to knowledge,” she says. “My disability didn’t push me into education – curiosity did.”
But the road wasn’t without obstacles. This year, Ms Zulu faced financial exclusion and couldn’t register for the postgraduate diploma in higher education she’d set her sights on. “I’m still in the process of overcoming that,” she admits, “but I’m not giving up. That qualification still has my name on it.”
Support services on campus became a quiet force behind her journey. Introduced to them by a friend, she found not just assistance but a community. They were especially vital when she needed participants for her research project, leading to unexpected friendships and moments of shared understanding with other students living with disabilities.
Among her proudest university moments is her time as a first-year mentor in 2020, guiding students through their beginnings. More recently, a collaborative project with biotechnology students saw her university take second place in the InterVarsity Beer Label Design Competition. “Being part of that team reminded me how powerful cross-disciplinary work can be,” she says. “Design is not just art – it’s communication, storytelling, impact.”
Ms Zulu plans to keep telling stories that matter. “Rest is for after the PhD,” she laughs, eyeing further study and working while learning. She dreams of using design to shift perspectives and spark change, creating visuals that speak to lived truths and empower others to see possibilities where they might not have before. Ms Zulu plans to keep telling stories that matter. “Rest is for after the PhD,” she laughs, as she continues to balance work and learning. She dreams of using design to shift perspectives and spark change, creating visuals that speak to lived truths and help others see new possibilities.
She has been involved in youth and community development for over 16 years. Her passion for uplifting others runs deep. She currently serves as Head of Marketing and Communication at Tshiamiso Astronauts and the Mordecai Ndlovu Foundation. Both organisations are committed to education and social development, and through them, she continues to champion meaningful change.
Asked what advice she would offer to others, especially students living with disabilities, Fikile doesn’t hesitate: “Know yourself. Accept yourself. Because when you do, no one can tell you something about yourself that you don’t already know. That kind of self-awareness is powerful.”
And maybe, just maybe, that power was born in those early days – in a hospital ward, with a bandaged hand, a quiet baby who never cried through the pain but chose instead to crawl forward.
